Injured Murray retires in Rome

There were no happy birthdays for an injured Andy Murray at the Foro Italico today, as he retired from his second round Rome Masters match against Spaniard Marcel Granollers, with the score tied at 3-6 7-6.

On this form, it looked like Murray would lose to Marcel Proust. However, within a few games, it was obvious that the Scot was struggling with an injury.

The new world number two looked miserable, out of sorts and in pain throughout the match and finally succumbed to on-court treatment to his hip after the third game of the second set.

By that time, Granollers had sauntered to the first set and led 2-1 in the second. Although Murray winced his way to a successful second-set tiebreak, he decided not to risk aggravating the injury ahead of next week’s French Open, shook hands and traipsed off court.

Clay is proving to be an alien and discomfiting surface for the Brit and this is the third consecutive year he’s endured problems immediately before or during Roland Garros.

The retirement was only Murray’s second in his entire professional career. The other was also on clay – in Hamburg in 2007 – and also on his birthday.

Andy even mentioning a possibility of not playing the French isn't a good sign. Has he missed a major since his wrist injury early on? I've gone blank.

I'm worried about Andy and I don't mind admitting it. I think if he's not going to be right he'll be wise to skip the French. He shouldn't worry about ranking points or anything like that. The most important thing is Andy's longer term career. If not playing one major helps him to recover and helps to get him right, so be it.

All this talk of no RG may just be because he is gutted about today, and as much as I hate to say it to give the doubters some justfiication for his retirement today. Have just watched the 2nd set and the comeback and he did seem to be moving better towards the end although serving was obviously an issue. Only Andy knows how he feels and I think he will want to be fit for the grass. If he decides not to play RG then so be it I would rather he got fit for Wimbledon.

All this talk of no RG may just be because he is gutted about today, and as much as I hate to say it to give the doubters some justfiication for his retirement today. Have just watched the 2nd set and the comeback and he did seem to be moving better towards the end although serving was obviously an issue. Only Andy knows how he feels and I think he will want to be fit for the grass. If he decides not to play RG then so be it I would rather he got fit for Wimbledon.

“I pulled out because there was a good chance I wouldn’t be playing tomorrow even if I was able to get through,” Murray said. “I might have to wait and see on Paris. But I’d be very surprised if I was playing in Paris.

“I have an issue with my lower back that I will try and get sorted in the coming weeks,” Murray added. “But it’s been an issue for a while now. I want to make sure it goes away and doesn’t become something that I’m playing with for a long, long time. It’s not enjoyable when you’re playing in pain, all the players will tell you that.”

“I think the shots that hurt get exaggerated more on clay,” Murray said. “When it’s a back issue, rotation tends to be the problem. And on the clay the ball comes through a lot slower, so to generate power you have to rotate more.

“Also the ball bounces higher and there’s less stability with your movement so all those things combined don’t really help.”

“When you have the injections, they can help a bit with the pain and take some of the inflammation away,” Murray said. “But that also didn’t make me feel 100 per cent and I want to feel 100 per cent.

“I’ll speak to the guys tonight and chat with the physio and come up with a plan for the next few days. I’ll make a decision on Paris after the next five days I would have thought. I’ll obviously need to take some days off and see how it settles down. But a few days didn’t really make a difference this time so we’ll have to wait and see.”

I can imagine he is feeling lousy right now but is also be cautious with his comments. I do wonder if the fact that his knee does not do well on the clay if that could contribute to the back being worse on clay as the body does compensate for different problems. My hip problems were causing back problems which made the GP think I had a back problem but it turned out that it was my hips. I still have slight twinges in my back but hopefully these will go when the second hip replacement is done.

Watched the match followed by Barry Cowan's comments. That man is totally out of order, I do not hear them talking about other tennis players like that. Andy was very obviously injured and deserves all our support including Barry Cowan's! He should be hauled up for his dreadful remarks about Andy and ordered to make a very public apology!!!!!! Good effort Andy.